


Headspin.

by theworstwolves



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: 5 Times, 5+1 Things, Angst, Artist Derek, Future Fic, M/M, Reconciliation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-12
Updated: 2013-05-12
Packaged: 2017-12-11 15:54:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/800471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theworstwolves/pseuds/theworstwolves
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Or the five times Scott thought about his past with Isaac and the one time Isaac thought about his future with Scott.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Headspin.

**Author's Note:**

> Title and Plot Bunny comes from Keaton Henson's song You Don't Know How Lucky You Are.  
> Listen to it for major Isaac feels.  
> Un-beta'd so any and all mistakes are my own.

1

The first time Scott sees him in, God, five years, it’s so unexpected it almost knocks him back.

He’s in New York with Stiles looking at apartments, because Derek’s got an exhibition and six-month residency at the MoMA (and he’s sorry, but Derek Hale: Artist is something he will never get over) and Stiles decided they’d both move out there because their relationship is sickeningly co-dependent like that. Its late evening, he and Stiles have spent the day looking at apartments while Derek’s been in talks with the museum. Apparently Scott, being the least tired of the three, is the one who needs to go on the snack run to the local 7-Eleven.

So there he is, looking down the aisles for chips and dips when he sees him. Actually, it’s his scent that catches him first, and it makes his stomach twist because he can’t quite recognise it even though he know he should, and then he sees him. Isaac looks older, in reality he knows they all do, but it’s different when you miss people growing, it takes you by surprise. He’s filled out more, is taller if that’s possible and when he turns to Scott the rings under his wide eyes are darker than ever. 

He’s holding two tubes of toothpaste in his hands, the old, familiar brand they both used to use, and one Scott doesn’t recognise. His breath hitches when he sees him, just one quick jerk of his whole body before he’s putting one of the tubes down, favouring the new flavour, and walking off without a backwards glance.

Scott wonders if that’s what his mouth tastes like now. 

2 

Stiles warns him, belatedly, two weeks later. They’re back in Beacon Hills, packing the last of Stiles’ things – some of it’s been sent ahead, even more or it is staying here because Derek refused to fully relocate for only six months. Stiles is bouncing on his suitcase, trying to get it closed when he looks up as if a thoughts just struck him and says, “Isaac’s living in New York now.” If he’s aiming for casual, he’s missed it by a few hundred miles, Scott almost feels bad when he says quietly, “I know.”

“What do you mean you know?”  
"I saw him, that first night.”  
"You saw him, shit, did you speak to him?”

Scott shakes his head and it looks like Stiles is about to say something else but he snaps his mouth shut, forces a smile and starts going on about the cost of living in New York. Scott allows himself to get lost in his babble, glad Stiles knows when to drop a subject. He tried not to think about how long Stiles knew that Isaac was there, because he’s pretty sure that Derek and Isaac still talk, and if Derek knew, it means by default Stiles knew. 

Later, when their sat on the couch watching the TV – which Derek thankfully wouldn’t let Stiles pack – when Stiles mumbles “Derek invited him to the exhibition.” Scott pretends not to have heard him, and Stiles doesn’t push it. 

3 

The opening night of the exhibition is black tie, with Champagne and canapés and everything he knows that Derek hates. He sometimes wishes Derek would buy into the whole reclusive artist stereotype, at least that way he wouldn’t be guilt tripped into going to events like this. The pack is all here though, which is nice, well mostly all here, Isaac hasn’t showed yet and Scott’s kind of hoping that maybe he won’t show at all. But along with the pack there are art critics, socialites, and people with more money then sense, the sort of people who make his skin crawl. He looks over to where Jackson and Lydia are chatting with another couple, they’re in their element, obviously.

He’s standing in front of a painting that he knows is of Stiles, though it doesn’t look like it, it’s mostly a blur of colour and a shape the looks vaguely like a mouth. He hadn’t picked it out for any particular reason, just because it’s in a corner and hopefully people will leave him alone if he looks lost in thought.

It doesn’t work, soon he’s joined by a women in a dress that he’s sure costs more that he earns in a month and she starts talking to him about enigma, and the use of colours and light and how it’s a masterpiece she’d just love to buy. She says she particularly likes they mystery behind it, how it’s so uncertain what it’s about. Scott turns to watch Stiles stuff a Vol au Vent in his mouth and is very tempted to tell her that the pieces working title was Blow Job Lips, or at least that’s what Stiles said. 

He’s saved from insulting potential investors by Isaac. Well not exactly, but Scott notices him the moment he walks in and tunes out everything else the woman says in favour of forcing himself not to look over at him. Stiles approaches him a few seconds later and offers to create a distraction so Scott can leap out of a window or something, he considers it for a second, but that would be childish, and make him look like he wasn’t over this, which he is, obviously. 

Apart from when he turns around he’s not, not at all. Isaac is in dress pants and an untucked white shirt with the top few buttons popped. He looks great, but that’s not the problem, the problem is that he isn’t alone. He’s pretty sure he hears Stiles swear under his breath when he notices the guy. He’s got an arm curled possessively around Isaac’s waist in a way Scott knows he hates, or at least used to. He’d flinch away when Scott tried to touch him casually like that, only to look guilty and apologies. He doesn’t look like he has an issue with it now; maybe it was only Scott he had issues with. Stiles is called over by Derek to talk to them, he shrugs apologetically at Scott and then walks off and it’s all Scott can do to watch. 

The guy is brash and abrasive, laughing opened mouthed at something Stiles says, bumping his elbow with Isaac’s and calling him babe. And that’s when Scott notices it, instead of the steady thump of everyone else around them Isaac’s heart is rabbit fast, blipping every time the guy pulls him closer or whispers something in his ear. It’s the exact same beat it used to be until Scott learnt not to touch him unless he asked, learnt that it could sometimes take whole evenings for Isaac to warm up to him, that it could be way into the night before Isaac curled his body into Scott’s side, hand resting on his stomach and asking if he was still awake. Scott was okay with that, the tentative waiting, this guy obviously isn’t. Or maybe he just doesn’t know, can’t hear the beat of Isaac’s heart, smell when his scent goes acrid with discomfort, maybe Isaac never told him.

He stays for another half hour or so, mingling with strangers, pretending he knows about art, not acknowledging that Isaac’s there. But he feels Isaac’s eyes on him occasionally, sense when he’s getting close. But Isaac won’t talk to him, and he won’t talk to Isaac. He makes his excuses to Derek and flees back to his hotel room. 

4 

They all go out for a meal, Stiles insisted, though it was obviously Derek’s idea. And Scott can’t deny that it’s nice to have the pack together again, that it seems to settle his blood to have them all around him. He thinks that’s the same for all of them, even the humans, if to a lesser extent. But Isaac brings the guy – who it turns out is actually called Guy – and that kind of ruins the whole evening if Scott’s honest.

Well at lot of things ruin the evening for him, but most of them seem to be centred around Guy. They’re sat at a round table so every one is equally close to each other, which means he’s near to Isaac, and he’s not sure he can deal with that yet. Because Guy has his hand on Isaac’s thigh under the table, and it’s making Scott want to slap it away and yell at him, because surely everyone can tell that’s Isaac’s isn’t okay with that, even if he’s trying to pretend he is. 

The first big issue comes when Guy goes to the bathroom, and Stiles takes the time to ask, “So, how did he deal with the big werewolf reveal?” Isaac shifts uncomfortable before muttering “He didn’t, I haven’t told him.” Scott gapes at him and can’t help snap “You haven’t told him that you literally moonlight as a supernatural creature?” Isaac swallows, sucks on his bottom lip but is saved from having to say anything by Guy’s return.

The second thing is even harder for Scott to deal with. Lydia and Jackson are talking about developmental stages of childhood and if Amber is ahead of the curve (she is, of course she is, she’s Lydia’s child) and Jackson’s going on about sports (because it’s not like he’s lost any of his competitive streak). Someone mentions teaching her to swim. “Isaac’s dad’s a swim coach, isn’t he babe, you could ask him.” 

Scott shocked that he’s the only one who turns to Guy in disbelief, everyone else seems to have taken the comment in their stride. “Isaac’s dad’s…” Stiles kicks him under the table before he can finish and ends his sentence with “Retired.” Scott glares at them all and focuses on his food for the rest of the meal. He knows he doesn’t have the best track record with relationships, but he never kept a secret that big in them, let alone two. He’s pretty sure Isaac keeps trying to catch his eye but he won’t let him. At the end of the meal Stiles tries to make him hang back, Isaac’s watching him while Derek talks to Guy and he thinks that means he wants to talk. Scott doesn’t want to talk, he leaves.

5 

It’s midnight and he’s walking through Central Park. His flight leaves tomorrow and he’s trying to make the most of New York in the short time he’s here, hasn’t really had the chance these last few days. And he likes walking at night, it’s peaceful, and it’s not like he has to worry about being mugged or anything. He sees Isaac sitting on one the park benches silently watching him and for a moment considers walking past. But he’s leaving tomorrow, and god knows when they’ll see each other again, if ever. He sits down silently, no idea what to do or say. 

It’s Isaac who speaks first, he points up to the city lights ahead of them and says “We live up there, I come here when I can’t sleep.” Scott isn’t sure what he’s meant to take from that, but it confirms that Isaac and Guy are living together and causes him not to care when he says, “What the hell are you doing?”

Isaac’s face closes off, “I’m sitting on a bench in central park talking to my ex” he says, voice cool and devoid of emotion. Scott rubs and hand over the back of his neck, looks up at the lights and sighs. He wants to shake Isaac, get him to answer, get him to sort his life out but it’s not his place to do it. Maybe he really is fine; maybe Scott’s just being paranoid, self-entitled, or worse, possessive.

“Are you happy?” he asks. Isaac nods even as his heart pings it as a lie. He gets up without another word and Scott hates how familiar the sight of him walking away is.

He goes back to Beacon Hills, works harder than he normally does, he goes to a club and fucks some guy in the alley outside it. He thinks about Isaac and refuses to feel guilty. He meets up with Allison, her ex has just got engaged and she’s not okay with that, though they don’t talk about it, they don’t talk about anything. They sleep together a few times because Scott will never get over how warm and soft Allison is, how safe she makes him feel. If it’s possible he thinks he loves her more than he ever did when they were together and he knows she feels the same. This companionship is better than anything they ever had before. He’s not okay but he’s okay with not being okay, he can deal, he can get over it, he did once before. 

When Derek and Stiles come back from New York, Isaac is with them. 

+1 

They’re sat pressed together on the couch, it big enough for them to have both stretched out, but this is how Guy likes it. He has one arm around Isaac’s waist, occasionally leaning down to kiss him. He does this a lot, this close contact thing, even when they’re out and while Isaac doesn’t mind as such, he kind of wishes Guy would ask if it was okay. It’s stupid really; you shouldn’t have to ask someone you’ve been in a relationship with for three years if it’s okay to touch them. But Scott always did. 

They don’t argue, he knows it’s a strange thing to get hung up about but they never argue about anything, not about whose turns it is to do the bins or where they want to eat, or even the fact that Isaac seems pretty happy to do whatever Guy wants them to do. Maybe he doesn’t notices. Scott would have noticed. He argued a lot with Scott. 

Guy’s talking about something or other, hand absently running across Isaac’s stomach as he talks. Isaac’s not really listening but tunes in enough to hear him say, “I know you always say you’ll think about it, but we should invite your dad for Christmas this year.”

“My dad’s dead.” It shocks him that he says it, he didn’t really mean to, it’s because he’s been thinking about what Scott said all those weeks ago, seriously, what the hell is he doing? Guy blinks at him, untangles himself and goes to speak but Isaac cuts him off. “He’s been dead for what? Seven years now. He used to hit me so I can’t say I really care.” Guy keeps looking like he wants to cut in but Isaac won’t let him, suddenly he’s got so much to say and he’s worried he doesn’t say it now he won’t ever. 

“I have issue with personal space but I never told you. Sometimes I hate it when you touch me. Just like I hate that Lasagne you make, and the way you wear socks in bed. The show we’re watching at the moment is shit. I’m not a cat person. I’ve never been to Europe. I don’t like that thing you do with your tongue. I think it’s sad how a grown man can be so emotionally invested in baseball. I don’t think we’re working.” 

He leaves without any of his stuff, just dumps the keys from his pocket on the table and shuts the door behind him. He’s gotten good at walking away.

He spends the next two weeks on Derek and Stiles’ couch, helps them pack and asks Derek if he can go back to Beacon Hills with them. When they touch down at the airport Derek tells him that if he wants he can book the next flight back to New York, or anywhere else he wants. He shakes his head; it’s time to stop running.

He goes back to his old house, seeing as he still technically owns it. It gets rented out but it’s empty at the moment. It’s been redecorated so it doesn’t feel right, not that it ever did. He gets Scott address off Stiles and then spends days with it in his back pocket not knowing what to do. 

In the end, it’s Scott who comes to him. He stands in Isaac’s doorway with his hands in his pockets and looks up at him sadly.  
“This doesn’t mean you’re forgiven.” Isaac nods, waiting for him to continue.  
“This won’t be easy.” Isaac silently agrees again.  
“And if you walk away again that’s it.” Scott sighs, steps forward and runs a hand across his mouth.  
“Can I kiss you know?” Isaac nods as he wets his lips and closes the gap between them.


End file.
